HSR Freight in Liege Airport by 2012

Posted on February 27, 2008 by Matthieu Desiderio

Liège Carex, part of Euro Carex

Liege Airport wants to welcome its first high-speed freight train by 2012. A study from Ernst & Young has just been released and details the potential role of Liege Airport in the Carex (CArgo Rail EXpress) project. Discussions about Carex started about ten years ago, but a problem of time slots offered by the infrastructure managers on their high-speed rail tracks stopped the development of the project. In 2005, French and Belgian rail authorities freed up time slots, and put the Carex projects “back on tracks.

Ernst & Young Study shows that Liege Airport may be handling between 4 and 10 trains a day, most likely to be Alstom TGV trainsets. One thing to know: only high added-value products and express packages are to be transported in high-speed trains.

Liège Carex is setting up, so is Euro Carex: a group of public and private partners promoting high-speed freight rail from airports across Europe. In France for example, FedEx and Air France are members with the Roissy Carex team.

Liege Carex project President, Mr. Jean-Pierre Grasé, explained that Fret GV, the recent joint venture between SNCF (French National railway operator) and La Poste (French postal service) may be a potential partner. As of today, Euro Carex also includes other cities in Europe: Paris (France), Schipol (Amsterdam, the Netherlands), Lyon (France), and London (United Kingdom). It could even be extended to Germany, Italy, Spain and eventually Eastern Europe in a second phase.

A freight TGV station in Bierset near Liege Airport

The station, located close to Liege Airport, would have, in the first phase of the project, two rail tracks and truck-access roads allowing containers to be directly transferred from trailers to railcars. This first rail yard will be linked with existing networks toward Brussels and Germany.

Ernst & Young study estimates the total project cost in Liège would be around €90 million, subsidies excluded. It would become profitable after 20 years of operation, for freight shipped over distances of 500 to 1,000 kilometers: too long for trucks, to short for aircrafts.

References

Article: Liège Airport veut accueillir les premiers TGV fret d’ici 2012, e-Lloyd, Feb. 22, 2008: here
Article: Liège : bientôt un TGV fret ?, RTC, Feb. 22, 2008: here
Atrticle: Une gare TGV fret à Bierset en 2012, Le Soir, Feb. 22, 2008: here
Website: Planned Express Freight terminal: CAREX, Roissy Développement: here
Press release: FedEx souhaite développer l’intermodalité air/rail à Roissy-Charles de Gaulle, FedEx, Jun. 21, 2006: here
Website : Le Conseil général du Val d’Oise soutient le projet Roissy CAREX, Conseil général du Val d’Oise: here